


Tennis Under Fire

by Whisper132



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-25
Updated: 2006-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-23 20:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/254614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whisper132/pseuds/Whisper132
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eventually, someone was bound to suspect them. Or, what happens to a team full of gay tennis players.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
Everyone suspected the tennis team. The short shorts, the obsession with lean bodies and toned muscles, all of it was suspect. But, while they suspected, no one said anything, made a move to inquire as to the truth of the matter…until that Thursday.

“I’m not interested. Leave.” Sanada turned his back to Kamiwari Asuka and her bouquet of wildflowers. He’d been practicing his backhand when she ran onto the court, held his arm captive, and confessed. Around them, the team practiced, used to the odd interruption.

Kamiwari-chan stood her ground and smacked Sanada across the arm with the bouquet. “Why? What’s wrong with me, with any of us?” She smacked him again and he took hold of the bouquet, yanking it from her hands.

“Stop whining and leave. I am trying to practice.”

“Sanada,” Yukimura said, moving up to them, taking the bouquet. “Please apologize.” Yukimura handed the bouquet back to Kamiwari. “True feelings should always be cherished.” Yukimura bowed to Kamiwari. “My apologies for Sanada’s rude behavior. Please do not let your opinion of him spoil your feelings toward our team. Sanada, do you have something to say?”

Sanada bowed, his cheeks reddened. “I apologize.” He stood and moved toward the regulars. “15 laps! You should be practicing, not sight seeing!”

Kamiwari-chan’s eyes went wide. She looked from Yukimura to Sanada and back. Her mouth formed a small “o” before she covered it with her hand. Tears trickled down her face. “No fair!” she cried, dropping the bouquet as she fled. “No fair!”

That was the beginning.

  
&-&

  
Kirihara was called into the principal’s office the next day. He was familiar with the office, he went there at least twice a month, but the atmosphere was different this time. The air tasted like sulfur and every time Kirihara breathed, something settled at the bottom of his stomach, dragging him down.

“Kirihara-kun,” Principal Akimoto said, gesturing for Kirihara to sit down in the chair at the desk. Kirihara never got to sit in the chair.

“Whatever it is, I really didn’t do it this time,” Kirihara said, sitting down. The chair’s upholstery was scratchy and clawed at Kirihara’s back through his uniform.

“Are you enjoying the tennis team, Kirihara-kun?” Principal Akimoto adjusted his glasses and leaned over the desk.

“Yeah.” Kirihara didn’t want to expand on the topic because Akimoto-san looked like a shark waiting for a seal to slip into the water.

“Nothing about the tennis team makes you…uncomfortable?”

Trap. Definitely a trap. “Uncomfortable?” Kirihara wasn’t dumb. People thought he was, but he just used that to his advantage and caught them when they were off guard. Akimoto-san probably thought Kirihara would just bounce up and give him any information he wanted.

Akimoto-san shuffled papers on his desk, tapping them into neat piles. “I’ve been speaking with some of the girls who watch the practices. They seem to think there is certain inappropriate behavior transpiring in the tennis club.”

“Inappropriate behavior?” Kirihara wondered when people would notice that the tennis club was more a gay boy’s social mixer than a club. Not that Kirihara minded, he would never have met Marui-senpai if not for the tennis club. “Like fighting or something?”

“Inappropriate, as in…” Akimoto-san blushed and looked out his window. “Have any of the other members asked you to do something you didn’t want to do?”

“All the time,” Kirihara said.

“Oh?”

“Fukubuchou makes me run too many laps. He says that I’m lazy, but I’m not. I try hard!” Kirihara pouted, scrunching up his face to keep himself from laughing.

“Is that all?” Akimoto wiped his bald forehead with a pale yellow handkerchief. There was a daisy embroidered on the corner. Only girls embroidered their handkerchiefs.

“Yeah, stuff like that. Why?” Kirihara kicked his legs back and forth, rapping against the desk and the legs of the chair. “I’m gonna be late for practice soon.”

“That’s all, Kirihara-kun. You may go.”

Kirihara bolted up from the chair and headed to the clubhouse to tell Yukimura.

  
&-&

  
Yukimura grimaced as he worked out the knots in Sanada’s bare shoulders. “It looks like that girl you rejected is starting problems, Genichirou.”

Sanada winced as Yukimura’s fingers dug into his muscles. It hurt, but after half an hour everything would feel wonderful and warm. It was rare that Yukimura gave Sanada a shoulder massage, he did so only when he was concerned that Sanada might leave him or, as was the case that day, be stripped away from him. “It will pass,” Sanada said between hisses of pained satisfaction.

“Principal Akimoto called Kirihara in.” Yukimura grimaced at a spot that refused to loosen. “What’s wrong with your shoulders?” Yukimura pounded the spot with his fist. “Relax, dammit.”

Sanada smiled and grabbed hold of Yukimura’s hand. “That hurts.” Sanada pulled Yukimura forward so they were pressed chest to back. “They’ll be watching the club. We should call a meeting.”

Yukimura turned an eye to the stack of books, forgotten in the corner for the last two hours. “And do our homework.”


	2. Chapter 2

  
“Something’s wrong.” Jackal slid Marui’s untouched bento off the desk. “Are you going to talk about it or are you going to ignore your lunch and pass out from malnutrition at practice?”

“Shut up.” Marui poked Jackal in the arm with clean chopsticks.

Jackal ignored the minor pain and focused on his best friend. “You screwed up the practice test. Something’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong. Lay off it, alright?” Marui slid his chopsticks into his bento bag and reconsidered an onigiri. Usually the nori his mom bought made him sick to his stomach, but a little nausea would be welcome. It might get him out of practice.

  
“So, it’s about Kirihara.” Jackal tapped his chin with one finger while his other hand took the onigiri from Marui. “Doubles evaluation is today and we’ll lose Doubles One if you puke on the court.” He peeled the seaweed off and handed the ball of rice back. “Niou and that new guy are pretty good.”

“They’ve been playing for a week.” Without the seaweed, the onigiri didn’t sound as good. Marui put it back in the bento box and took a strawberry juice from his bag. “There’s no way they’re good enough to take Doubles One from us.”

Jackal shrugged and swiped the juice, taking a quick sip before handing it back. “Give it a month or two and they could be kicking our asses. We haven’t done a concentrated practice in a while.”

“Excuse me.” A girl tapped on Jackal’s shoulder. “My friend asked me to give this to you.”

Jackal took the pink envelope with a respectful incline of his head. “I’ll reply directly, then.” He smiled at the girl and turned back to Marui. “That’s the third one today. Does the sudden peak in estrogen have something to do with your problem?”

“Kirihara doesn’t have estrogen,” Marui grumbled, still watching the girl who handed Jackal the note. She was talking with her friends in a corner, pointing at them. “And don’t be so loud about it. They can probably hear us.”

Jackal stretched his arms in the air and said, in his loudest voice, “What shall we do tonight, Marui-kun? Perhaps we should watch porn or stare at magazines with naked women in them!”

Marui’s face fell onto his desk and his hands covered what of his flushed neck was exposed. “Idiot,” he grumbled into the faux wood surface.

The girls in the corner giggled and left. “Works every time,” Jackal snickered, finishing off Marui’s strawberry juice.

  
&-&

  
“So, you and Jackal are watching porn tonight?” Kirihara trotted up to Marui in the hall and bumped the other boy with his hip.

“You’re not supposed to be up here. Second years are restricted to the second floor.” Marui looked up and down the hall. “Didn’t you get Yukimura’s message?”

Kirihara shrugged. “I’m asking you about tennis or something. No one cares what I do anyway.” He bumped Marui again. “Why are you watching porn with Jackal?”

“I’m not watching porn with Jackal.” Marui looked up and down the hall again. “We should be discrete.”

Kirihara really hated Marui’s issues sometimes. One year wasn’t that big a difference. If Kirihara could be a regular, he could have a boyfriend who was a year older. Yukimura-buchou said so. “If we’re any more discrete I’ll forget we’re going out,” Kirihara grumbled stepping away.

Marui ran a hand through his hair and growled at the floor. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He grabbed Kirihara’s arm and pulled him toward the bathroom. “The club’s being watched,” he said, washing his hands.

“So? You’re the tensai, figure something out.” Kirihara was used to being watched. It didn’t matter if the whole school knew he was trying to have a relationship with Marui. If everyone knew, stupid girls would stop trying to horn in on Kirihara’s territory and he’d go to the principal’s office a lot less. Speaking of horning in. “Why did Jackal say you guys were watching porn tonight?”

“Would you quit it with the porn? There is no porn. Jackal doesn’t have any. I don’t have any. No porn.” Marui splashed water on his face. “He just said it to get the girls off our backs.”

“If you want to watch porn, watch it with me, not Jackal.” Kirihara took out his handkerchief and dried Marui’s face. “I stole some from my uncle last summer. It’s kinda boring, but maybe it’ll be more fun if we watch it together.”

Marui’s eyes darted around, then his forehead fell against Kirihara’s. Marui’s forehead was still moist and their skin stuck together. A piece of Marui’s hair was poking Kirihara’s eye, but Kirihara didn’t care. “I don’t want to watch porn with anyone,” Marui said, his fingers twirling in Kirihara’s tie. “It’s weird watching with other people.”

“It’s the right kind, though,” Kirihara said, nuzzling his nose against Marui’s.

“Stop it, someone could come in.” Marui ignored his own advice and pressed a little closer to Kirihara. “You should get back to your floor.”

“Don’t wanna.” Kirihara’s arm looped around Marui’s waist. “We don’t really need the last two classes of the day, do we senpai?” As Kirihara was puckering up, the bathroom door handle jiggled. “Crap.” Kirihara jumped away from Marui and turned the tap on, pretending to wash his hands.

“Look Sanada,” Yukimura said, gliding into the room. “It’s Akaya-kun, all the way on the third floor. Why do you suppose he’s here?”

“Laps,” Sanada said, moving to block off the windows, the only other escape route.

“Yes, I believe you’re right.” Yukimura grabbed Kirihara by the wrist and led him away. “Clearly he’d like to run eighty laps at practice for endangering the club. Marui as well.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Marui protested.

Yukimura waited.

“He came here first!”

Yukimura continued to wait.

Marui fixed his tie. “I’ve got class.”

“Rest up and make sure you eat,” Yukimura said, waving. “Jackal said you skipped lunch again and we wouldn’t want a repeat of last week, would we?”

Kirihara ignored Sanada looming behind him and ran to Marui. “Just because eating sugar on an empty stomach gives you more stamina isn’t an excuse to stop eating meals, senpai!” Kirihara kicked Marui in the ankle. “You’re going to get sick!”

“I was upset. I can’t eat when I’m upset. Chill out, kay?” Marui patted Kirihara on the head. “Everything’s fine.” Marui left and, while Kirihara tried to follow him, Sanada’s grip on Kirihara’s shoulder kept the second year in place.

“A word if we could, Akaya.” Yukimura leaned against the sink and gestured for Kirihara to sit. With Sanada standing there, Kirihara had no choice but to comply.

  
&-&

  
Akaya left the bathroom, shoulders drooping and feet scuffing across the floor. “You didn’t have to be so hard on him,” Sanada said, closing the door and locking it. Both he and Seiichi had study hall and neither of them felt like attending.

“If it hadn’t been us walking in, everything would be ruined, Genichirou. Kirihara knows that.” Yukimura eyed the door. “Isn’t locking the bathroom door a bit obvious?”

Sanada shrugged. He didn’t see a problem, particularly since this restroom was intermittently closed due to plumbing issues. But, if Yukimura wanted the door open, Sanada would comply. “I’ll open it.”

“Don’t.” Yukimura slid to the floor, feet spread in front of him, head craned to stare at the blinking fluorescent lights. “What’re we going to do, Genichirou? Principal Akimoto will be observing the team for the next month.”

Sanada sat next to Yukimura. “We play tennis.”

Yukimura tipped his head to the side, resting his cheek on Sanada’s shoulder, smelling the other boy’s light cologne. “You make everything sound so easy, Sanada.” Yukimura took in another breath. The cologne Sanada wore was a musky scent, something between cedar chips and charcoal. “We’ll have to set guidelines at the meeting this afternoon. Akimoto’s watching us in classes, too. He’s waiting for us to slip up.”

Sanada wanted to fold Yukimura into a hug, kiss his forehead, and say that everything would be okay. Sanada wanted to tell Yukimura to rest a little and he would take care of everything. He didn’t say anything, though, because Yukimura didn’t want to be coddled or protected or treated like the precious thing Sanada thought him to be. Yukimura wanted to fix his own problems, fight his own battles, and run the team the way he wanted. Sanada respected that and knew that, in the end, Yukimura’s way was usually the better one. “Let me know what I need to do,” he said, hands moving idly at his sides.

“Just be here,” Yukimura said, pulling up to kiss Sanada’s cheek. “I’ll take care of the rest.” A sigh and Yukimura’s features hardened, his posture straightening as he hefted himself off the ground. “We’re going to win,” he said, reaching a hand down to help Sanada up, smiling a little when Sanada accepted.

“Three years in a row,” Sanada said, pulling his hand away before he made a sentimental fool of himself.

“Nothing’s going to stop us. Nothing.” Yukimura straightened his tie. “Unlock the door, Genichirou. We should finish our studies before practice. I want to watch a movie with you this evening.” Yukimura reached up and rested a hand on Sanada’s arm. “It’s probably the last for a while, ne?”

Sanada nodded, reaching out to ghost his fingers along Yukimura’s arm. The next few weeks would be difficult for both of them.


	3. Chapter 3

After one week, Yukimura’s hands itched. They itched and stung and flexed and curled every time Sanada walked past and Yukimura couldn’t reach out to touch the other boy’s hand, fix his uniform. Some kind of contact. Any contact. They’d been separated for longer durations for summer vacations, true, but this was the first time Sanada was right there and Yukimura could do nothing but act a respectable buchou and normal best friend.

“He’s watching from the chemistry room today,” Yanagi said, handing Yukimura a list of lap times. The slowest twenty on the list would run double laps at the end of practice because Yukimura was in a bad mood and wanted to watch the freshman suffer.

“I hope there’s a chemical spill,” Yukimura said through his smile-bared teeth. He surveyed the court, making sure he skipped over the far courts, where Sanada was instructing second year non-regulars.

“They say absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Yanagi said. Renji never much cared for Yukimura. He was probably pleased to watch Yukimura’s forced exile from Sanada.

“Why don’t you assist Niou and Yagyuu with their formation? They appear to be having difficulties.” Yukimura waved Renji off and continued watching the courts. “Freshmen! You should be swinging your racquets, not swatting flies!”

  
&-&

Eighty laps was a lot to run, especially when Kirihara’d already done fifty that morning and eighty the day before. Yukimura-buchou sure was in a pissy mood, probably because he couldn’t get all moony-eyed with fukubuchou before practice. It was kinda nice to have normal practices. Except for the running. The running sucked.

As Kirihara continued his laps, he watched his teammates practice. Niou and that new guy from the golf team were standing in a corner, having a fight. Yukimura-buchou was trying not to stare at Sanada-fukubuchou and failing. Yanagi-senpai was correcting a second-year’s form and occasionally turning to gloat at Yukimura-buchou. Marui was rallying with Jackal, with whom Marui was not watching porn, even though Kirihara suspected Jackal really would like to watch porn with Bunta and tempt him into illicit activities. Kirihara wasn’t an idiot. He knew what went on in the brain of a teenage boy when there was a sexy, limber body in front of him.

Kirihara’s impact with the fence hurt like hell.

“Watch where you’re running, Akaya!” Yukimura said, jogging up to where Kirihara had fallen to the ground.

Kirihara waved a hand in the air. “I’m fine, buchou! Just didn’t see the fence there!” Little stars and meat buns danced in Kirihara’s vision. Man, running laps worked up an appetite. Kirihara’s stomach grumbling echoed across the courts.

“You skip lunch again?” Marui asked. Kirihara turned his head and got a nice view up Marui’s shorts. Too bad he was too dizzy to appreciate it more.

“Left it at home,” Kirihara said, clutching at his head. “Damn, that hurt.”

“Marui, shouldn’t you be practicing?” Yukimura said, pointing to where Jackal stood, practicing his racquet forms.

Marui ignored Yukimura and shoved an arm under Kirihara’s shoulders, helping him up. “I’d be a pretty crap senpai if I let my kouhai stay bleeding on the ground, buchou.” Marui winked and gave Kirihara’s shoulder a little squeeze. “I’ll get him to the nurse.”

Being moved into an upright position was a new experience, full of swirling trees and buildings doing a can-can. Kirihara’s stomach didn’t appreciate it. “I’m gonna throw up,” he garbled, detaching himself from Marui and stumbling to a bush.

“If you’d pay attention to practice and not space out, you wouldn’t be puking,” Marui said, leading Kirihara away from the bush once he was done.

“If I could just hang out with you like normal, then I wouldn’t be spacing out,” Kirihara countered. “Stupid principal.” He glared up toward the window where his nemesis stood, watching the practice, ruining Kirihara's nice, normal life. He couldn't properly enjoy the rare feel of Marui's arms around him if people were watching. "Stupid, stupid principal."

  
&-&

  
Sanada was having trouble understanding the drama unfolding on the tennis courts. He and Yukimura were never intimate during practices so nothing should have changed. Seiichi was going mad, though, making up excuses to have conferences, during which he'd slide his fingers over Sanada's and cause a fluttery abdominal sensation that was inappropriate for tennis time.

Tennis time and dating time were different. They'd discussed this.

"I can't work like this," Niou said, stomping up to stand by Sanada. "You wanted me to get a new doubles partner and I'm trying, but it's impossible with that geezer watching everything. I can't even correct Yagyuu's swing without that dingbat taking notes."

"You can correct a swing without being lewd," Sanada said. "If you are incapable, then ask Jackal to do it."

"Like Jackal'd do any better."

At least Jackal was doing his part by endeavoring to date everything in a skirt. Anything for the team, he said.

"If your doubles game is inadequate, you will play singles and Yagyuu will be dropped. That is the end of this discussion." Sanada caught movement out of the corner of his eye. "Your partner is growing impatient. I suggest you return to him."

Niou stalked away, yelling at Yagyuu to close his stance and bring the racquet higher. All in all, it wasn't too different from a normal practice.

"Sanada, would you mind conferencing with me a moment? We need to discuss Akaya."

No, not so different at all.


	4. Chapter 4

  
Kirihara sat on Yukimura's rolled futon, staring at a wall as if he were trying to bring it down with the force of his mind. "This sucks, buchou. This really sucks."

Yukimura turned away from his geometry. "Do your homework, Akaya."

"I was supposed to spend the night at Bunta's but he's going to stay at Jackal's and they're going to practice doubles." Kirihara said doubles as if he meant to say have wild sex on the tennis court – with girls.

"Practice is important if you want to succeed, Akaya. Practicing your English, for example." Yukimura took French so he didn't know how hard English was. You couldn't just spout out sentences in English the same way you could practice a slice shot or a rising.

"Can I play doubles, buchou?"

Yukimura turned back to his homework. "Don't bother me with silly things, Akaya. You're a singles player."

Kirihara slammed his textbook closed and threw it onto the hardwood floor. "I could play doubles if I wanted to!"

Yukimura turned slowly, the chair creaking under him. "Do not make me repeat myself, Akaya."

"Yes, buchou."

  
&-&

  
"He's going to think you're ignoring him," Jackal said, pulling a cookie off Marui's stack. "Of course you are ignoring him, so he wouldn't be wrong, but still."

"Did you come with me to bitch or to eat, because I'm perfectly cool eating by myself." Marui tossed a doughnut, whole, into his mouth for emphasis.

Around them, the patrons of the buffet alternated between averting their eyes and pointing. The wait staff were used to Marui's visits and his hurricane appetite. They ignored him in favor of refreshing the garden salad.

"If the unromantic tensai can do both, so can I." Jackal cut into his roast beef and contemplated his slice before eating it. "The food here's pretty good. We should come here more often. Oooor,"

"Don't say it," Marui grumbled. They'd been riding the buffet for three hours now. The Doubles Strategy Weekend was Jackal's idea, so he was obviously going to use the opportunity to preach something at Marui. The tensai just wasn't in the mood.

"What's the big deal? You like him. He likes you." Jackal waived his fork like a metronome, sending splatters of gravy into the plastic jungle around them.

"Sanada doesn't like it." Marui attacked a piece of carrot cake, scraping the frosting off and sucking the whipped sugar clean from the fork.

"Since when do you care about what Sanada thinks? You're Yukimura's friend, not Sanada's. Tell him to fuck off." Jackal was full of useful, direct solutions.

Marui stabbed the defrosted cake. It didn't look as good without the frosting. Maybe he'd just go get some ice cream instead. Or maybe one of those shrimp skewers. "It wouldn't work with the observation going on anyhow."

Jackal rolled his eyes. "Is the principal here now?"

"No."

Jackal took out his cell phone. "There you go, then." He dialed and handed the phone to Marui. "Invite him over. Talk about stuff. Eat. Whatever. If this keeps bugging you, you'll keep sucking on the court and making me look bad. Achiko-chan won't go out with me if I'm a loser."

Marui's eyes flew wide and bits of icing flew from his mouth as he sputtered. "Uh…hi…Akaya? Yeah, Jackal's here. This is his phone. You wanna come eat something? Jackal wants to leave and I didn’t' want to eat alone." Marui shut the phone. "He'll be here in ten minutes, he says."

Jackal took his phone back and puffed out his chest. "Who's the tensai now?"

Marui threw his napkin. "Hurry up and leave or we'll lose a match on purpose, just so you don't get a date."

Jackal hustled out of the restaurant, leaving Marui to pay the bill.

  
&-&

  
Sanada answered his front door with a grunt and a roll of his eyes.

Renji elbowed his way in, arms full of papers. "As no one else is inclined to be useful in our current situation, I thought I might compile some research so we can acquire a plan of action." Renji kicked off his shoes and started up to Sanada's room. After closing the door, Sanada followed.

"You didn't need to, Renji. The situation will diffuse in time and it's not impacting our game." At least it wasn't impacting Sanada's game. Without Yukimura's interruptions every time his form slipped up, Sanada was actually able to focus on his practice. His kaa was definitely improving.

"We will be in trouble with Niou and Yagyuu's partnership if Niou continues to work under stress." Renji tossed a stack of papers at Sanada's futon. "That is Niou's permanent file. If you trace his record of disciplinary incidents, you'll find they coincide with major times of stress in his life."

Sanada didn't need piles of paper cluttering up his room to tell him that. Renji was excitable, though, and had to be handled very carefully. "Would you like some tea?" Tea was always a nice, calming beverage. It would be a good foundation.

"This is Yagyuu's permanent file. I've tabbed the important pages. Pay close attention to the pink highlights. The blue highlights are for my own reference, you may ignore them. And no tea, please, I just had a lot of water."

Sanada sat on his futon and picked up Yagyuu's file. He didn't ask how Renji acquired them, nor did he ask for how long Renji'd been reading them. In all likelihood, Renji acquired the files months ago and was simply putting them to use in a crisis.

Renji leafed through another set of papers. "These are Squad A's reports on the principal's activities for the week. Squads B and C traced the vice principal and the school psychiatrist. I haven't had time to go through them yet, though. I'll do so while you review those files."

Sanada was wondering where the ten missing freshmen were. Clearly they were being sent on Renji's errands. No matter, they had freshmen to spare. Renji did seem to enjoy his investigations. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" Sanada asked, tapping the papers into a neat pile and setting them back down on his futon. "Mother would love to have you." It'd been a while since Renji ate over. It would be…nice to have a friend to talk tennis with, even if that tennis talk revolved around the administration's crack down on "inappropriate behavior."

"I would like that. Thank you, Genichirou." Renji smiled before diving into Squad A's reports, blue highlighter in hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Kirihara stared at the plate of food before him, piled high with roast beef and barbeque chicken. Marui-senpai was really nice, getting it ready for him like that. "So, uh, senpai," he looked around to make sure none of the weird tourists were watching them, "something wrong?"

Marui smiled around the slice of melon in his mouth. "Nah, just wanted to hang out with you for a bit since we don’t get to at school." His smile was speckled with honeydew pulp.

"So we're on a date?" Kirihara liked the sound of that: a date with Marui-senpai. It would've been better if he hadn't run into Jackal on the way out, though.

Marui scrunched his nose and wiped melon pulp off his lips. "Nah, we're just hanging out." He bit his lip. He was debating about something.

Kirihara gave him time by rambling about the bus ride over and his morning trip to Yukimura-buchou's. "He's really freaking out because fukubuchou ignores him during practice."

Marui stretched and stared at the fake plants. "Seiichi's weird. He's had a crush on Sanada since first year and just got up the guts to do something about it last year, so he's kinda." Marui made a crazy mime.

"Buchou's not crazy, he's dedicated!" Buchou was the only one who understood how frustrating the last month of Kirihara's life was and how, despite being together with Marui-senpai, it didn't feel like they were together because, even though Marui was the nicest, most wonderful person on earth, he knew as much about relationships as fukubuchou.

Marui sighed and sipped at his water. "He's totally insane," he said. "I've known him since kindergarten, so I'm an expert. You'd have to be crazy to fall in love with Sanada Genichirou."

Kirihara couldn't argue that last point. "I'm getting full, senpai. Let's go somewhere else." Kirihara flipped through his mental catalogue of dream date locations and finally settled on one. "Let's go to the duck pond by my house. It's really nice and there's an ice cream shop nearby."

"Sure." Marui cleaned his face with his napkin and hailed the waiter for the check. "No ice cream, though. I think I'm gonna explode if I eat anymore."

"If you just talked to me instead of eating away your problems, then you'd be fine, senpai." Kirihara ducked his head, hiding behind his hair. "I'm always here for you, senpai."

Marui put a finger to Kirihara's chin, tilting his head up so their eyes met. "Cut it out, we're not in a soap opera." He smiled and curved his thumb over Kirihara's lips. "But thanks. I know." Marui stood and placed some money in the bill folio. "Grab a few rolls on the way out so we can fatten up some ducks."

&-&

Niou stared at the walls of Yagyuu's room. Golf posters, landscapes, and a Christmas card from his uncle. Pretty boring, really. He didn't have any gaming systems, no unnecessary books, no jpop CDs. Nothing.

"You look disappointed." Yagyuu entered with a tray of snacks and slid the door closed behind him. "Please have a seat." He nodded toward the bed in the corner.

Niou sat down on the clean-smelling powder blue comforter. "Nice place," he said, swinging his feet and hitting his heels against the bed frame. "Parents out?"

"My family is attending a concert in Tokyo. They won't be back until later." Yagyuu set the tray down on his desk and held a cup of tea to Niou.

"Oh."

"You look uncomfortable." Yagyuu sat down next to Niou, crossing his legs demurely. "Did I oversteep the tea?"

Electricity shot through Niou's spine as Yagyuu leaned over to inspect the contents of the teacup. "Nah, it's fine. I'm not a big tea connoisseur anyhow. Probably wouldn't notice." What Niou was noticing was that in a room with nothing to distract him and a house with no one to hear, he really wanted to try kissing Yagyuu, just to see how far he could go before getting slapped, killed, or slapped then killed.

Yagyuu's mouth right next to his ear wasn't helping.

"Then please enjoy and drink before it gets cold." Yagyuu pulled away and began sipping at his tea. Niou crossed his legs and stared at Tiger Woods.

  
&-&

  
"You should call Seiichi," Renji said as he packed up his reports. "He's probably lonely by now." While the idea of spending dinner at Sanada's was previously interesting, the sighs and vacant looks to the clock were making Renji crave his nice, quiet home.

"Akaya's there getting help with his homework. Yukimura's fine." Sanada blushed and looked very interested in his carpet.

Renji was getting tired of babysitting a team full of fools. "In all likelihood, Jackal and Marui called their meeting short and Kirihara is now on a date. Call Seiichi." Renji paused before adding, "And if you take him out to play tennis, I'll hit you." He would never actually hit Sanada, but the point was across.

"Given the current circumstances, I think that…"

"How long has it been since your last kiss?" Renji already knew the answer, but it was important for Sanada to think on things. If you gave Genichirou all of the answers, he started to get lazy and expected you to do all of the thinking for him.

Sanada shrugged. "A week or so. It's not that important."

Genichirou also had the romantic instincts of a gargoyle. Luckily Seiichi was aware of this and liked him anyhow. "How often do your parents kiss?" Step by step, that was how you had to guide the dimwitted.

"Constantly." Sanada grimaced. "It's embarrassing." He looked as if he were about to expand on his disgust, but chose to instead say, "Oh," when a light bulb went off and he realized what an imbecile he was. "I see."

"Good. Call him. Make him happy so we don't have to run laps." Renji was tired of the extra laps Yukimura's unsated libido was causing. Sanada and Yukimura were chaste as far as Renji knew, but a hug and snuggle would do wonders for Seiichi's bitchy attitude. It would probably loosen Genichirou up a bit as well.

Sanada nodded as if accepting a monumental mission. "I will." He saw Renji to the door and already had his ketai out when he turned to go back inside. Perfect. The first phase of team reconstruction was complete.

&-&

As far as Yagyuu knew, an abandoned house and sitting on a bed with your doubles partner was supposed to equate to making out. Niou kept talking, though. About tennis and his family and doubles formations he'd seen on television and wanted to try. Yagyuu didn't want to be rude, but he'd gone through great lengths to secure the house for them and his efforts were being wasted. Niou was interested, the jittery smile every time Yagyuu got too close to Niou was proof of that. What, then, was the problem?

"You wanna go try one of the formations out at the street courts?" Niou's gaze lingered on a poster, the same stupid poster he'd been staring at for the last five minutes.

"Do you like Tiger Woods?"

"Who?" Niou scratched his head and looked a little closer at the poster. "Oh, that guy. No idea who he is. Just looking at it while I was thinking." He shrugged. "You know how it is."

"Indeed." Yagyuu was getting sick of waiting for Niou to act on the vile thoughts he knew were running around in the other boy's mind. Yagyuu'd seen Niou's room, he'd smelled the floral room spray and, below it, a more familiar, intimate scent. Who would've known that Niou was the honorable sort.

"Shit, this sucks." Niou took his braid out and redid it. "Are you flirting with me? I've been trying to figure it out and I can't tell and it's bugging the shit out of me, so tell me straight."

Yagyuu smiled at Niou's word choice. "I would not have left a nationals level golf team to play tennis with you otherwise."

Hair in place, Niou rose to his knees on the bed and leaned over. "How long's your family gonna be out again?"

"Another five hours at least."

Niou grinned. "Good. We can work on some doubles formations."


	6. Chapter 6

Marui scraped duck droppings off his shoe. "Gross." He shouldn't have had that extra piece of cake. The heartburn wasn't worth it today, nor was the gagging induced from the stench of duck that wafted around the pond. Whoever said duck ponds were good date spots must've gone to the pond when the ducks were on vacation.

"Senpai! Help!" Kirihara threw bread to the mass of ducks that followed behind him, nipping at his heels when he wasn't fast enough in delivering their snacks.

"Come on Akaya, let's get out of here. We'll go to the library or something." Great. The library. That was just about as romantic as the duck pond.

Kirihara chucked the last of the rolls into the water, using the distraction to escape from the ducks. "I know a better place senpai. Come on."

Marui didn't quite trust Kirihara's cheeky smile. "It's not covered in bird crap, is it?" Beggars couldn't be choosers, but some stipulations were good.

"You'll see when we get there," Kirihara said, tugging at Marui's arm. "We gotta hurry before they close."

  
&-&

  
"Genichirou."

"Seiichi."

"Yes?"

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm calling."

"I noticed."

Sanada pulled his ketai from his ear and looked at it, puzzled. Yukimura sounded upset. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine. You?"

Yukimura usually spoke about his family within the first three exchanges of dialogue, filling the air with his mother's new needlepoint project or whatever was going on that week. "Something's wrong. We should go out." He winced. That didn't sound as smooth as he'd envisioned it. Not that he was ever smooth. "A movie?"

"How about a match?"

Sanada liked the way Yukimura said match. He hummed it, like he was savoring the taste of the word. Renji said no tennis, though. "No. Just time with you."

"I'll pick you up at seven. Wear something nice, Genichirou." Yukimura hung up and Sanada stared at his ketai again. He couldn't help the grin that overwhelmed his mouth, turning it up in an almost foreign expression.

Shaking the expression off, he dialed another number.

"Genichirou."

"Renji."

"Can I help you?"

"I'm supposed to wear something nice."

  
&-&

  
What Niou had anticipated might be an evening of unbridled sex was, in fact, an evening of chess, which he was losing. Horribly.

Niou hadn't expected the awkwardness when Yagyuu stripped him of his shirt, didn't think he would feel nervous reciprocating the gesture. When they both broke down in laughter halfway through belt removal, they decided to call it quits and try again some other day…when they knew what the hell they were doing.

"Checkmate." Yagyuu grinned down at the board. "That's your shirt, I believe."

It was Yagyuu's idea to make the game strip chess. They were taking it slow, one piece of clothing per win. It was going to help them get comfortable being naked with the lights on and someone quite obviously staring.

There went Niou's backup dream of being a stripper. He shucked the shirt off and folded it, much to Yagyuu's amusement. It took skill to cultivate the unkempt look. Wrinkled shirts were not unkempt, they were slovenly. Niou was not slovenly. "I'm gonna win the next one," Niou said, eyeing Yagyuu's sweatervest. He'd really like to be wearing one right now. Yagyuu kept staring at the birthmark next to his left nipple and it was getting difficult to not blush or squirm under the attention.

"I can take a handicap if you like." Yagyuu reached forward and took Niou's hand in his. "I'm capable of great sympathy."

"Where the hell do you get this crap?" Niou looked around the room. There must be hidden manga somewhere. Or magazines. All he could see were medical journals and a few DVDs, mostly foreign action films in the Indiana Jones family. Oh, well that explained a lot. "You come at me in khakis with any kind of whip and we're never playing doubles again." Without the whip, though, the outfit might not be too bad. Maybe a fake pistol, some of those thick cotton socks, a hat.

"Niou?"

Yagyuu'd look really nice in sailor's pants, too. Or a lab coat.

"Masaharu?"

"Just thinking," Niou said, his lips curling upward. "You know, putting clothes on can be just as fun as taking them off."

  
&-&

  
"As of this moment, you are officially my favorite person." Marui slid down into steaming water.

"I wasn't before?" Kirihara slipped into the bath next to his senpai. The small onsen was run by friends of Kirihara's parents so he got in for free. Usually the private rooms were booked and he had to use the common room. Tonight, though, they had a private room free, which was perfect.

"Shut up. I'm soaking." Marui's head reclined to rest on the stone tiles behind him. "So nice," he hissed.

Kirihara scooted closer, sitting hip to hip with Marui. "So I did good?"

Marui cracked an eye open and nodded. "Good," he agreed.

"So I get a kiss, right?" Kirihara bit his lip. Every time he asked, Marui avoided the subject. Of course, he usually asked when they were at tennis practice or in the halls, which was when he saw Marui the most.

"Sure." Marui looped an arm around Kirihara's waist and tugged him over. "No one's here," he said when Kirihara's jaw refused to close and his eyes flew wide open. "Unless you don't really want me to."

"Nononono!" Kirihara scrambled to straddle Marui's lap. Being naked, it was a little weird and a lot sexy. He was going to concentrate on kissing though. One thing at a time. "Whenever you're ready senpai."

Marui snickered. "Open your eyes."

"Huh?" Kirihara didn't even notice his eyes were closed. "Oh. Okay."

Marui's finger traced Kirihara's chin, slid along his jaw, up and over his ear. Kirihara sucked in a breath and, when he exhaled, he did so into the cavern of Marui-senpai's mouth.

Which tasted like mint and bile and melon. Not the best combination in the world, definitely not sexy. Nevertheless, the rough slide of Marui's tongue against his made him squirm until he realized, much to his horror, that he was pressing rather insistently against Marui's chest and…elsewhere.

Marui pulled away. "That was nice," he said, reclining his head back again. "Man, I'm stuffed. Shouldn't have eaten all that crap. Makes me sleepy." He yawned as if to emphasize, giving Kirihara enough time to scamper to his own place in the small pool. "We should do this again sometime." Marui lolled his head to the side and licked his lips. "I like it here."

"Tomorrow?" Kirihara asked, wondering if he could convince the owners to let him rent the room for a few hours. He had an allowance. "Or the day after? Whenever you want, senpai."

Marui flicked his fingers across the top of the water, splashing Akaya on the face. "Maybe next weekend or something."

Kirihara grinned and scooted a little closer, running his hand up Marui's arm. "A date?"

Marui shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Yes!" Kirihara jumped up in his exuberance. When the cold air hit his skin, he fell quickly back into the water.

Marui closed his eyes and put a towel over them. "It's no big deal," he said. "It's just a date."

"But it's a naked date, senpai. Those are a thousand times better than regular dates." Kirihara chuckled, dodging the towel Marui threw at him. "You said you'd do it so you can't take it back now," he said, knowing that that was exactly what Marui would threaten to do. For a tensai, Marui was really predictable. Before Marui could ask for his towel back, Kirihara handed his over. "I don't need mine, senpai. Go ahead and take a nap. I'll make sure you don't drown or overheat or anything."

Marui took the towel, letting his fingers slide over Kirihara's. "Thanks. Don't molest me in my sleep."

"Senpai!"

"Just sayin'."


	7. Chapter 7

Yukimura was pleased at Sanada's performance thus far. He hadn't complained about the American food, even though he was obviously irritated at Yukimura's choice of restaurant, and he was trying very hard to look very manly while slurping on his ice cream cone.

"It's nice to get out every now and then," Yukimura said, wiping a trail of ice cream off Sanada's wrist. He sucked the drippings from his finger. "The pecan's good. I should've ordered some."

Sanada offered up his cone, holding out the other hand to take Yukimura's chocolate. "Trade?"

Yukimura leaned around the cone, pressing against Sanada's side as they walked through the small park. "Better idea."

Sanada was smart enough to lean into the kiss and keep his ice cream cone away from Yukimura's white silk shirt. Yukimura, however, dropped his cone in favor of circling his arms around Sanada's neck, pulling them closer.

Old ladies and their dogs watched as the stern faced boy and his girlfriend kissed in the park. Normally Seiichi hated his pretty face and feminine hair, but today he blessed them. Sanada tasted like steak sauce and cream.

And he kissed like a porn star.

Yukimura didn't know how Sanada maintained his stoicism when, the moment their lips collided, his tongue was sliding inside Yukimura's mouth, twisting and probing, gliding over Yukimura's hard palate, sending chills that made Seiichi's arches sting as he leaned in to allow Sanada closer, deeper.

And Sanada still had a firm grip on his damn ice cream cone.

The old ladies were still watching and pointing. A few other couples were giving the occasional glance. One or two of them figured out that Yukimura was not, in fact, a girl and were wrinkling their noses and gagging.

Fuck them.

Sanada's free hand slid down Yukimura's back, resting atop his tailbone. Fingers moved in small circles, scratching and rubbing through Seiichi's aqua trousers. Seiichi would never be taken seriously again if the team heard the small, pathetic noises escaping through his nose.

Sanada pulled away, probably noting the onlookers for the first time. "We should go." He frowned at the ice cream in his hand. "It's melting." The tongue that had previously been driving Seiichi to madness began to wend its way from Sanada's elbow to his fingers, collecting streams of melted ice cream.

While Genichirou was busy cleaning himself up, Yukimura turned to the old ladies and their dogs, smiling and waving.

  
&-&

  
Whatever put buchou in a good mood and kept him from assigning laps was an answer to Kirihara's prayers. The usual ten laps to prevent insubordination were easy and Kirihara completed them in record time, arriving back to practice just as rally assignments were given.

"Akaya, excellent. Court three. You're with Jackal." Yukimura beamed and checked something off on his clipboard. "Marui, court two with Renji. Work on receiving at the baseline. Renji, your net play." He checked something off again,

"Court three is doubles, buchou."

Yukimura ignored Kirihara and continued to give assignments. Sanada was already off supervising the freshmen.

"Come on." Jackal pulled Kirihara by the arm. "We're playing against Niou and Yagyuu. Achiko-chan's watching, so make it look good."

Kirihara sought out the clump of girls clinging to the fence near the doubles court. "Which one is she?"

"The one with the green hairbands," Jackal said, his eyes glazing over. "I gave them to her yesterday."

"She's fat."

"She's fully developed."

"She's frumpy."

"She's sensible."

"Your taste sucks, Jackal-senpai."

  
Kirihara suspected he would've gotten a racquet to the head had Niou-senpai not popped up next to Jackal and jabbed him in the ribs. "Ready to be humiliated?"

"We're gonna win," Jackal said, clenching his fist. "For love."

Niou-senpai mouthed "frumpy" while Jackal was busy blowing kisses to Achiko-chan. Niou-senpai was awesome.

  
&-&

  
"We're being watched from the chemistry lab again." Renji and Marui weren't so much rallying as plotting while stretching. "He's setting a cycle."

"Does he think we're dumb or something?" Marui popped a bubble in the direction of the chemistry lab.

"I suspect." Renji hoped Squad A was in position and taking proper notes. His plan could be set into motion as soon as he had a little more information.

Marui took a point and went to the baseline to serve. "You're planning something, right? Whatever it is, you can count me in. That guy's pissing me off."

"Making a certain someone antsy?" Renji settled himself at the net. If they didn't at least put up a pretense of following Yukimura's orders, there would be laps, good mood or no good mood.

"Try psycho." Marui scrambled for the ball, lobbing it.

"Second year is a tough year." Renji resisted the urge to smash and returned a straight ball to ensure the rally lasted.

"Huh?" Marui let the ball fly past him. "I was talking about Seiichi. Who were you talking about?"

"I assumed you were referring to Akaya. My apologies." Renji twirled the racquet in his hand, the weight of it soothing his embarrassment. This was Bunta. Bunta didn't care if Renji made errors and, more importantly, wouldn't tell when he did.

"Nah, he's cool. It's our fearless leader who's getting weird on us." Marui served, nearly missing the service area. "Crap. That sucked. Anyway, what's your plan?"

"Blackmail."

Marui grinned and, again, let the ball pass him. "Awesome."

Yukimura's voice cut through Marui's laughter. "Marui! Yanagi! Ten laps for distraction!"

Apparently Sanada hadn't been as effective as Renji anticipated.

  
&-&

  
"That was your ball, senpai. I'm at the net, remember." Kirihara was rapidly getting on Jackal's last nerve. If the little twit didn't shut up and play some real tennis, Marui was going to be out one boyfriend.

"Having problems?" Niou leaned on the net and waved, fingers dancing through the air.

Achiko-chan went home five minutes ago. The world was out to get Jackal and he was fairly sure he hadn't done a thing to deserve it. He was the normal one on the team. He did what he was told, babysat Kirihara when asked, and liked girls, beautiful, round girls with which he could make beautiful, round children and they could move to Brazil and he would show his senpai how successful he was.

"…or you could strip naked on the court and do a little dance." Niou smiled. "Welcome back to the real world, Kuwahara."

"He's just mad that the frumpy chick left." Kirihara was at the net, pretending to whisper behind his hand.

"Gentlemen, I believe we were playing tennis." Yagyuu tapped Niou on the shoulder. Seeing Niou jump and blush at the touch was very satisfactory.

"Yes," Jackal said, tossing a tennis ball to Yagyuu, the only decent one on the team, even though he was really a golfer and liked Niou. Everyone was allowed their faults. "Your serve."

"Hey Niou-senpai, what kind of bath salts does Marui-senpai like?" Niou and Kirihara were still at the net. Yagyuu served around them.

"Melon, that fizzy stuff from the shop near the bakery. He bought a ton of it last time we went into town." Niou ducked his head to avoid Jackal's return.

"I remember that stuff. He showed it to me once." Kirihara lunged away from Yagyuu's laser beam while Jackal scuttled to return it and failed. Yagyuu took out another ball and served.

"Planning a romantic evening?" Niou waggled his eyebrows and poked Kirihara in the ribs with his elbow. "Give him chocolate dipped strawberries before the bath. He loves those."

Yagyuu succeeded in hitting Niou's head with his serve. "My apologies. I was drawn to your conversation and unable to focus on my aim." He tossed a ball up and served again, missing the two dallying at the net.

"Niou! Kirihara! Twenty laps!" Jackal hadn't noticed Yukimura sneaking up on their court. "Yagyuu, good ball control. Jackal, good footwork. Continue on." Yukimura left, bound for the far courts and Sanada. Jackal and Yagyuu continued their rally, glad to be unobstructed. On the court's perimeter, Niou and Kirihara jogged and chatted. Jackal would feel sorry for Marui, but the lack of a certain frumpy schoolgirl kept his pity to a minimum.


	8. Chapter 8

Marui begged off walking home with Akaya in favor of coffee and plotting with Renji. Kirihara pouted and stomped home, but would undoubtedly be fine in the morning so long as Marui slipped a little good morning note into his shoebox. "So," Marui said, trailing his straw through the whipped cream on his mocha frappuchino, "what you got planned?"

Renji grinned and took out a schematic of the school. "My team charted the principal's movements as well as the activity of his closest staff since the situation arose." He pointed to the chemistry lab. "Here is his most frequent place of observation. According to the cycle, he'll be there again on Thursday. That's when I plan to trap him, using Genichirou to block the door while myself and another representative of the team negotiate."

"It so has to be me." Marui leaned forward, observing the map. "I take it these other locations are his subordinate's viewing stations?"

"Exactly." Renji stopped to sip at his chai. "Those observation areas are constant and the teachers meet every Friday to discuss their findings, which is why it is crucial that our operation take place on a Thursday."

"The principal is the farthest from the other observation points when he's in the lab." Marui was often amazed at Renji's thoroughness. It was a completely different kind of tensai, very fascinating. "You mentioned a blackmail strategy. What's up with that?"

Renji took out a few pages of notes and handed them over. "The reports from Squads A and B. I showed them to Genichirou, but I doubt he absorbed the information."

Marui didn't say that he thought Sanada was dumb. Sanada was Renji's best friend and you didn't talk trash about your friend's best friend. It was rude. Renji refrained from badmouthing Niou and Yukimura for the same reasons.

"His wife's gonna be pissed if she finds out," Marui said, handing the papers back after a quick skim. "Nice work."

"Unfortunately, only half the photos were clear enough to build a case on, but the other half can be photoshopped if needed. That's where you would come in." He handed Marui a manila envelope. "Would you mind looking at these and seeing what you can do?"

"If I can make that poster of Sanada in a nun's suit for Yukimura's birthday, this should be cake. I can have them back to you by tomorrow night and we can go down to the photo booth and print them out Wednesday after school." No one on the team knew of Marui's skill with Photoshop save Renji. Everyone thought the infamous Nun Sanada photo had been hired out to the graphics club and, while they vehemently denied any involvement with the project, Renji was nice enough to keep Sanada suspicious of them long enough for the incident to blow over. Seiichi still had the poster in his closet, hidden on the wall behind his winter clothes.

"I leave it up to you, then." Renji smiled and they finished off their beverages in comfortable silence.

"This was nice," Marui said when they'd finished. "We should hang out more."

"Provided no one finds out," Renji said with sad smile. "It would be unbeneficial to both of us were Genichirou and Seiichi to find us conspiring against them."

"Yeah, I guess so. Shame. You're pretty cool. I wouldn't have thought of the schematic breakdown." Marui also wouldn't have known which of his kouhai were trustworthy enough to be sent on secret missions. He was friendly, but not much of a people person.

"How are things with Akaya?" Renji's blush gave away his discomfort at the compliment, verifying what Marui had always suspected yet really didn't want to know about. Renji was an awesome secret friend but…

"It's alright. He's really spazzy but he tries real hard." Marui couldn't help the goofy grin that spread across his face, showing teeth that, by some act of the heavens, had thus far avoided decay. "It's really cute, how hard he tries."

"Good." Renji gathered his papers into a small folio. "If you need assistance, please don't hesitate to ask."

Marui smiled. "You know, Jackal's available."

Renji dropped his folio. "Jackal is a walking venereal disease."

"We could import someone for you. How about that Hyoutei kid who's always hanging around?" Marui would love for the excitable Hyoutei regular to find someone else to sugoi over. Kirihara was starting to be 'concerned.'

"Akutagawa Jirou. And no." Renji reached forward and squeezed Marui's hand. "But thanks. I'll let you know." He picked up his folio and scooted in his chair. "I need to get home before mother worries."

"You just want to watch Mahou Shoujo Tami reruns," Marui joked, standing and gathering his tennis bag. "Me too, so see ya!" He jogged out of the Starbucks and toward the bus stop, wondering what sorts of awful things he should photoshop into the principal's life. In the corner of his eye, he saw Renji order a chai to go.

  
&-&

  
Yukimura wasn't sure what Renji and Marui were doing but it was upsetting Akaya, which caused trouble for Sanada. When Sanada was upset, he went home without saying goodbye, though he usually left a message on Yukimura's keitai sometime in the evening to apologize and explain himself.

To appease Akaya, Yukimura invited him over for dinner and homework help. The homework help was merely a cover as Akaya had most of his studies well in hand, save English which Yukimura couldn't help him with. The true point of the invitation was to give Kirihara time away from people, to perhaps inject some musical taste into him, and to let him vent his frustrations.

"It's stupid to be upset, right buchou?" Kirihara picked at Yukimura's carpet. "He should go out with his friends and stuff. I go out with my friends sometimes, too, and he doesn't really mind." A small mound of carpet lint was collecting in front of Kirihara. It was just dirt, though, no danger to the carpet yet. Yukimura would stop him if need be.

"I get upset when Sanada goes out without me." Yukimura understood Akaya's feelings all too well. Having been friends with Marui since grade school, he knew how dense Bunta could be when dealing with human interactions. At least he hadn't forgotten Akaya's birthday yet. Seiichi would email him the day before, just to make sure he remembered.

"Fukubuchou goes out?" Kirihara's eyes widened and he scribbled something in the margin of his geography notes. "Where? With who? He has friends?"

Yukimura couldn't help but laugh at Kirihara's enthusiasm. "Not too many from school," he explained, moving from his desk to sit next to Kirihara on the floor. "Mostly from his grandfather's dojo. Kendo players he's trained with." Yukimura went to the dojo a few times to watch Sanada train. It was…upsetting. "They're very nice people."

"Fukubuchou likes you more, though." Kirihara scooted over and rested his head on Yukimura's shoulder. "He knocked a guy out last week for insulting you."

Yukimura turned his head, staring at Kirihara in surprise. "I thought that was you."

"Nah, I just said it was me so fukubuchou wouldn't get in trouble. I'm used to getting sent to the office so it's no big deal." Kirihara shrugged but stayed leaning against Yukimura's side. "He was still an asshole to me at practice, though."

"He was upset that you took the blame. But thank you, Akaya." Sanada's parents were very rigid. Were he to be sent to the office and were they to find out, he would most likely be forced to quit the tennis team as punishment. His father would consider the incident a result of hanging out with the 'wrong crowd.'

"I told him it was his Christmas present since I didn't get him one this year. He said that I should-" Yukimura's keitai rang, cutting Kirihara off. "I'm going home, buchou. That's probably fukubuchou."

As Yukimura picked up the phone, Kirihara grabbed his things and saw himself out. "Sanada."

"Yukimura. Sorry."

Seiichi held the phone closer and pulled his knees to his chest, huddling around Sanada's voice. "It's okay, I understand. Akaya was over."

"You're busy. I'll call later. Or see you tomorrow. It's late." Sanada's short but awkward sentences never failed to bring a smile to Seiichi's lips.

"He's gone now, Genichirou. I can talk all night." He cringed as soon as he said it, knowing that he sounded like an idiot.

"You need to rest for school," Sanada protested. "Ten minutes, then we hang up."

"One hour." Sanada meant well, but Seiichi would rather curl into bed, keitai on, listening to Sanada's faint snoring.

"Half an hour. Final offer." Seiichi knew that, on the other end of the line, Sanada was already settled in bed. There was a sleepy tinge to his voice.

"Work hard at the dojo? You sound tired." Yukimura crawled across the floor and rolled out his futon.

"I did some weight training. Today was stressful. Renji is planning something and Marui is going to help him."

Yukimura hunted for his pillow. "Just let them do whatever they're planning. They'll find a way to sneak it behind our backs anyway." Pillow acquired, Yukimura began to search for the one stuffed animal he slept with, a panda Sanada had won for him in a crane game. "Renji's plans are generally well constructed, if a bit odd."

"Still, the two working together could be disastrous. We should intervene, for the dignity of the club." Sanada didn't sound as though his heart was in the argument. Pity. Arguing and sniping insults at their respective friends was good fun so long as neither Yukimura nor Sanada said anything particularly offensive.

"We'll keep an eye on them. I'm sure Akaya would be happy to distract Bunta." Yukimura could imagine Kirihara's elation at receiving the order to keep Marui occupied for an afternoon.

Sanada yawned into the phone.

"It's only been five minutes, Genichirou." Yukimura yawned back and crawled into his futon. "Was it really that tough for you today?"

"It was. I'm going to bed, Seiichi. I'll see you in the morning." Another yawn.

"Pick me up? We can walk to school and pretend to be discussing practice match assignments." All Yukimura really wanted to do was sit on the bus next to Genichirou and hold hands for a moment.

"I would like that. Good night."

"Night." There were other words on the tip of Yukimura's tongue but he held them back. Sanada'd had a difficult day and was tired, in no mood to hear vows of love or other nonsense. Seiichi would wait for a better time. "See you tomorrow, Genichirou." Still curled around his phone, Yukimura Seiichi drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm not saying this cuz I care or anything, but you're being tailed." Marui tried to subtly indicate the location of the principal's spy using a series of nods.

"Water in your ear?" Niou pulled a box of Pocky from his bookbag and munched away.

"By the fruit juice machine, idiot. He's been following you all morning." Marui blew a bubble, popping it with extra force.

Niou bit his lip and wondered if smacking Yagyuu's ass at morning practice had been a bad move. People did it on TV all the time, so he assumed it was okay, that anyone watching would've passed it off as a jock thing. "Do tennis players count as jocks?" he wondered aloud.

"No," Marui answered. "Now stop fucking up our plans and act normal, just for a few more days."

"Plans?" Niou's ears perked. "No one told me about any plans."

"That's because we want it to work." Marui hadn't trusted Niou with secret plans since the Grape Jelly Incident back in fifth year of primary school.

"Let me guess, you and Yanagi are going to save us all." Niou put a hand to his forehead and mimed a faint. "How noble of you! My heroes!"

Marui kicked him in the foot and popped another bubble. "I hate you," he said, even though he was trying not to laugh. "Just act normal until Friday, then you can strip eachother naked on the court and screw against the fence or something."

"Nah, Yagyuu'd get mesh marks all over his back." Niou grinned at the thought, coming out of his fantasy when Marui coughed and pointed to the juice machine. Right, they were being watched. "Seriously, you need anything, let me know."

"Cover me in lit. I'm skipping to do some errands." Marui dug through his book bag. "Here's my homework. Make sure it gets turned in and, if you copy it, change some of the answers."

"Don't need to. Yagyuu makes sure my studies are in order."

"You're so whipped. Look at that stupid grin on your face. Pathetic." Marui closed his book bag and pulled a new stick of gum from his pocket to add to the one already in his mouth. "Next thing you know, you two will have matching racquets and shoe laces with little hearts on them."

"Whatever Mr. Matching Towels." To be fair the towel was a present from Kirihara. Still, Marui used it and was therefore equally as whipped as Niou, even though Niou was not, in the slightest, whipped.

Marui shrugged. "I never denied anything. And the towels are cute." He stuck his tongue out before turning to leave. "Remember, Friday."

"Yeah, yeah." Niou skimmed Marui's homework, noticing a few of the answers were different from his own. He'd have to fix that before class started. Humming to himself, he went to get a juice from the vending machine and perhaps, should the juice not come out of the machine in a timely manner, slam the machine into the spy hiding beside it.

  
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"Where are Renji and Bunta?" Yukimura looked around the courts with a frown. "They're late."

"I doubt they'll be here," Sanada said. "They're probably following through on whatever plan they've come up with."

Yukimura squeezed the tennis ball in his hand. "This is no way to win regionals," he said, slamming the ball down to the court and catching it with a thwap. "Fifty laps for each of them tomorrow, Sanada." Seiichi's eyes narrowed. "Go stop Kirihara from molesting Jackal."

Sanada strode off for the doubles court and Yukimura tried very hard not to watch the fabric of Sanada's pants hug his backside as he walked. There were, no doubt, observers taking careful tallies of how many times Yukimura's attention strayed from supervising tennis to observing Sanada.

It wasn't Yukimura's fault, though. He was under a great deal of stress and the inability to summon Sanada to the restroom for a quick grope and kiss was putting a damper on his days. If whatever Marui and Renji were planning didn't work, they'd get double laps for missing practice. Possibly triple.

"Freshmen! There are balls on the court. Get moving!" The sight of dozens of freshmen rushing to obey his order was a temporary distraction, good enough to salve his irritation for another afternoon.

  
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Kirihara hadn't seen or talked to Marui all day and Jackal senpai was being an ass about it. Doubles practice was meaningless if Kirihara wasn't practicing with Bunta. Buchou was just pissy and taking it out on Akaya, who hadn't done anything to deserve it. All Kirihara wanted was to play doubles with Bunta and show everyone the strength of their bond. That was romantic, wasn't it? Yukimura-buchou was supposed to like romantic things, especially romantic tennis things.

"You're at the net, Akaya, not the baseline." Jackal pointed to the front of the court with his racquet. "Stay in your zone."

"If you'd get the ball like you're supposed to, senpai, I wouldn't have to worry about staying in my zone." Kirihara bent down and waited for Niou to serve. The Doubles One team was taking it easy on the practice pair, which wasn't helping Kirihara's mood any. He could take Niou-senpai and Yagyuu-senpai by himself if he wanted to. He just never chose to because it was disrespectful for a singles player to beat up on doubles players.

"Akaya! That was your ball!" Jackal ran to the net.

How did Bunta deal with all this crap, anyhow? Moving forward, watching this or that. And a lot of doubles was watching your partner's ass move back and forth while they waited for the ball.

Jackal's ass was all flat and boring. Bunta's was better. Fukubuchou's, too, though Kirihara would never say that aloud or look for too long.

"Akaya! The ball!"

"I _know_! Lay off already!" Kirihara ran to return the ball. Doubles was lame. How could he have ever wanted to try it?

"Looks like you two are having some trouble," Niou snickered, pulling up the net and retrieving the ball that Kirihara failed to hit over. "Just give up already."

Niou-senpai was usually really cool, but sometimes he needed to be hit. Right in the face. Hard.

"Akaya!" Jackal ran over and grabbed the back of Kirihara's collar, hauling him off Niou. And Niou was still laughing. Asshole.

  
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"These are excellent." Renji examined Bunta's handiwork with a critical eye. "There's a bit of blur near her right hand, though.

"Motion lines," Bunta clarified. "The camera these were taken with originally wasn't that good a quality, so I put in some motion lines to make it look like she was moving to grab his ass. Genius, huh?"

"Absolutely." Renji examined the photo again. It was a wonderful editing job, much better than Renji could have done. "These will be the perfect supplement to the video and the other photos."

"When're we going to corner him? You talk to Yukimura yet?" Marui reached into his pocket for a fresh piece of gum, offering one to Renji. "Sure is taking them a long time to get the others done."

Renji took the gum and popped it into his mouth. It was sweet, blindingly so, and perhaps supposed to be the flavor of watermelon, though Renji could only taste sugar and Red 3. "It's been half an hour. It's a one hour photo."

"Let's go get a snack, then." Bunta grabbed onto Renji's arm and tugged him toward the McDonald's across the street. "I've got a craving for some really salty fries."

It was wrong to enjoy the feel of the other boy's arm around his own. Friends didn't dwell on the heat of skin to skin. Friends didn't wonder what would happen if Kirihara were to see and misunderstand – not that Kirihara would simply let someone waltz up and take Marui away. He'd fight, with teeth and nails and a bloody tennis racquet.

"Hey!" Marui tapped Renji on the forehead. "You counting calories again? I'm fine. I burn it all off, remember?"

"Sorry, I was thinking about my math test. I wasn't very confident with two of my answers." Perhaps in high school he could find someone. The high school admitted a few more students than the junior high; there was bound to be a match.

Pop. "Numbers seven and thirty-eight, right? Those were shitty. I think I got 'em right, though. We'll study together for the next test if we didn't get them right." Marui examined the contents of his wallet. "Hey, can you lend me 100 yen? Jackal stole some cash for lunch today."

Renji handed over the funds without thinking. "Why do you lend him money? He never pays you back."

"He'd pass out during practice if he didn't eat something. He's saving most of his money in case he can score a date with that frumpy chick." Marui puffed up his cheeks in his best impression. "He picks total losers. Remember that girl from the cheerleading squad?"

"The one who shredded his bicycle tires when he dumped her?" Renji smiled at the memory. "Didn’t Sanada have to walk him home for a week after that?"

Marui smacked Renji's shoulder. "Right! Right! And she tried to steal my lunch but Akaya ran her down." Marui detached himself to order two burgers and a milkshake. Renji ordered a small fry. He had water in his bag.

"I emailed Yukimura this afternoon with specifications for the meeting place. It will be tomorrow during lunch. It's likely he will bring Genichirou as well." Renji sat and looked at his fries. He really should've gotten a burger. He'd need the protein to counterbalance his nerves tomorrow.

"Here." Marui tossed one of his burgers onto Renji's tray. "It'll be really lame if our spokesman passes out tomorrow. I know you're gonna skip dinner and lunch."

Yanagi nodded and quickly devoured the hamburger before looking at the time on his phone. "The prints should be done when you finish your shake."

"Cool." As Marui spoke, a piece of burger bun flew from his mouth onto Renji's phone. "Sorry."

Wiping the bit off with a napkin, Renji tried not to look too disgusted. "It happens," he said, reaching into his bag for a wet nap. "Once we have the documents in order, we should plan our dialogue, maybe practice. Would you like to come over?"

Marui stopped sipping his shake. "Sorry, I've got to drop by Akaya's tonight and return a DVD I borrowed." Marui's left eyebrow always twitched when he was lying.

"I'll just email you, then. We can go over the plan at morning practice." A hard lump settled at the bottom of Renji's stomach. "I'm sure the prints are ready. I'll go get them and bring them back." He scuttled away from the table and toward the print shop, part of him wondering why Marui felt the need to lie about his date with Kirihara and the other part thankful that the tensai was trying to be considerate.


	10. Chapter 10

Sanada really would rather have waited outside with the team. He could've used the time to practice his footwork, perhaps help Kirihara with his serve.

"Sanada should present it," Yukimura said, taking hold of Genichirou's arm and shoving him forward. "He'd be the most imposing."

There was no reason for Sanada to be present at the meeting with the principal. He had nothing to do with Renji and Marui's crazy scheme and he wasn't captain of the team. "I should return to practice. There's no one to supervise." Sanada calmly stepped away from Yukimura but was tugged back.

"Don't be ridiculous." Yukimura's nails dug into Sanada's arm. "Jackal's there. Everything will be fine. We need you, Sanada."

"We really don't," Marui said, tugging at Seiichi. "You can go, too, if you want. Yanagi and I've got it covered."

"What is the meaning of this!" The principal bounded into the room, waving a photograph. "You!" He pointed to Sanada. "Explain!"

Sanada cleared his throat – always a good way to gain a little time – and straightened his posture. "Renji. The documents." He really hoped there were documents to present. Renji usually had documents when he was doing weird side projects.

"Of course," Renji said, playing along. Sanada wondered if Renji would snap one day, tired of being forced to give Sanada and Yukimura all the credit. Genichirou would have to take him out for dinner or buy him an appreciation gift.

"While out shopping the other day, we happened across this incident." Renji pulled a large photo from a folder and set it down. "Some light research revealed the woman to be Takaguchi Yuriko from Club Bluebell." Renji pulled out another folder. "However, the following evening, you are seen at the same location with a woman identified as your wife."

Principal Akimoto lunged for the photos but Marui pulled them away. "Ah, ah. You want 'em, you have to earn 'em." Marui popped his bubblegum in Akimoto's face. "Isn't that right, fukubuchou?"

Sanada nodded.

"I could suspend you," Akimoto said, taking his handkerchief from his pocket and wiping at his bald spot.

"It would be a shame for you to miss out on the bonus the board of education allocates to the school for advancing to the national competition." Renji took a graph out of his folder and held it up. Sanada thought the colors Renji chose made the graph look a little like Domo-kun. "I've charted the effects our suspension would have on your salary," Renji said, shaking the paper. "I have copies, if you like. Or more photos, if you prefer." He flipped the folder open and leafed through several photos, most of scantily clad women hanging off the principal's arm.

Sanada felt slightly ill.

"What do you want?" Akimoto asked, again wiping at his bald spot. Sanada wondered, while Renji continued to flip through photos and the principal continued to sweat, if wearing a hat too often would give him the same sort of circular baldness the principal had. Perhaps knit caps would be better, allow more air in.

Yukimura moved to stand in front of Sanada. "We keep these out of the public eye and you turn a blind eye to our team and anything that might transpire within it." Seiichi took Renji's folder. "Deal?" Yukimura extended his hand.

  
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Yagyuu Hiroshi was certain everyone on the Rikkaidai Fuzoku tennis team was absolutely mad. It wasn't so bad for the first few weeks he was on the team, but now he was finally seeing the true colors of his teammates.

"Sanada, would you come here for a moment. I need you."

Yukimura called Sanada away from practice every five to ten minutes, generally for legitimate concerns – checking the practice schedule or helping a teammate with a skill – but sometimes, Yukimura called Sanada over and groped him on the ass or, on the rare occasion, Sanada walked over to Yukimura and "adjusted" Seiichi's clothing for him.

"Hey Marui-senpai! Buchou said we could play doubles today!"

Kirihara had a newfound love of doubles, even though he left his half of the court wide open and his partners yelled at him after every play. He claimed he was freeing up his singles spot out of courtesy to his senpai and that Jackal really should give singles a go, it was a lot of fun.

"Hiroshi, you're drifting off again." Niou ran a finger down Yagyuu's spine. "Are you getting bored?" Niou's finger hooked into the back of Yagyuu's tennis shorts. "We could do some stamina training."

When Niou said stamina training, he generally meant that he wanted to see how long Yagyuu could go with Niou's tongue down his throat and hand down his pants before coughing or whimpering for mercy. It was kind of…fun, really.

Yagyuu grabbed Niou's wrist and hauled him toward the clubhouse. "I think you'll find significant improvement, Niou-kun."

"Where do you two think you're going?" Jackal put a racquet directly in their path. "You're not leaving me alone with that." Jackal craned his neck to the remainder of the team.

"I have to insist on Jackal's demands," Renji said, stepping up beside Jackal. "Regionals are coming and we need to train."

Yagyuu's shorts were becoming uncomfortable and Niou's finger was dipping dangerously low. "My apologies. Being a golfer, there are several of the finer points to tennis that puzzle me. Niou-kun was merely going to explain them to me away from the ruckus."

Jackal didn't appear to believe it, neither did Yanagi, but the data player waved them on with a sigh. "Try not to be too loud," he told Niou. "Or Yukimura will come find you."

Yagyuu turned with a light smile. "I can assure you we will conduct ourselves with the utmost decorum for the situation. Right, Niou-kun?"

"Right. Swallow, don't spit. Got it."

Jackal turned green and covered his ears. Renji walked away. Perhaps a little madness wasn't so bad in a tennis team, given the alternatives.

  
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"So, uh, senpai. Now that everything's back to normal, uh…" Kirihara stared at the broom in his hands. Yukimura-buchou made Kirihara clean up on his own for sucking at doubles. Stupid doubles, who needed it anyway. He could watch Marui-senpai better from the bench.

"Spit it out," Marui said. "And keep sweeping. I wanna go home."

"You wanna eat lunch with me on the roof tomorrow?" It didn't sound like such a big request, but Kirihara had never eaten lunch alone with Marui-senpai before. It would be like a mini-date in the middle of the day. And at school, where everyone could see and would know that they needed to keep their grubby hands off Kirihara's tensai.

Marui shrugged. "Sure. I'll make lunch. Your cooking sucks."

Kirihara dropped his broom and stomped over to his inconsiderate, rude boyfriend. "Hey! Just because I burned the cake that one time doesn't mean I suck at cooking!" He poked Marui in the chest. "I'm bringing lunch tomorrow so don't you dare do anything!"

A bubble popped in Kirihara's face and Marui saluted. "Roger that. Make sure you bring enough. And make that egg thing that I like." Marui patted Kirihara's behind. "Finish sweeping."

Kirihara grabbed the broom, content that he really knew how to handle the tensai and knowing that tomorrow Marui would be comatose from the joy of eating the best dishes Kirihara's mom had to offer.

  
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The bathroom door was locked and was unlikely to be unlocked any time soon. The floor was dirty, covered in dust and wads of toilet paper, but Sanada wasn't complaining so Yukimura ignored the hygienic state of their surroundings and focused on maintaining the red tint to Sanada's cheeks.

"I'm glad that's over with," he said, nuzzling his nose into Sanada's collarbone. "Things were getting boring."

"I agree." Sanada's fingers rubbed at the back of Yukimura's neck, guiding him up for a kiss.

Yukimura's contented mewls echoed in the bathroom and he started up. "Genichirou, stop. We can't do this here." If anyone on the team heard him making those ridiculous sounding noises, he'd never be taken seriously again.

Genichirou was steadfast, though, and diverted his oral assault to Seiichi's shoulder. "It's fine, Yukimura."

Another chirp echoed through the bathroom. Maybe passersby would think it was a trapped bird. "You're being lazy, Sanada. Kiss me properly or not at all." He slid back down, hovering over Sanada's spit-glossed lips. It really was too great a temptation to resist.

Sanada grinned the stupid little smile he got before match point. "Yes, Yukimura."

Everything melted, then, into hands and tongue and the sounds of a bird trapped in the third floor boys' room.


End file.
